I Shmuel 23: Divine Distraction

The dance between Shaul and David continues. David runs away, and Shaul chases him. The chapter ends with a very intense scene. David is hiding on one side of the mountain and Shaul and his forces are approaching on the other side. David is trapped. When the end seems near, God sends a lifeline. “A messenger came and told Saul, ‘Come quickly, for the Philistines have invaded the land’” (וּמַלְאָךְ בָּא אֶל־שָׁאוּל לֵאמֹר מַהֲרָה וְלֵכָה כִּי־פָשְׁטוּ פְלִשְׁתִּים עַל־הָאָרֶץ) (verse 27). The word used for messenger is the same word for angel. Some commentators explain that this was indeed a miraculous event where God sent an angel to stop Shaul in his tracks. Others hold that this was perfect timing and that the Philistine army was attacking at the time. This exact event will happen again to the house of David centuries later. King Hezkiyahu and the people are holed up in Jerusalem up on the mountain. The Assyrian army that just exiled the northern tribes is surrounding the city. All hope seems lost. Hezkiyahu beseeches the prophet Yishayahu to pray on the people’s behalf. God responds that the king of Assyria will be sent away. “I will delude him; he will hear a rumor and return to his land, and I will make him fall by the sword in his land” (הִנְנִי נֹתֵן בּוֹ רוּחַ וְשָׁמַע שְׁמוּעָה וְשָׁב אֶל־אַרְצוֹ וְהִפַּלְתִּיו בַּחֶרֶב בְּאַרְצוֹ) (II Kings 19:7 (and in Isaiah 37)). Just as the Assyrians are set to attack, a messenger arrives to tell the waiting army that the Cush army is attacking. Distracted, the Assyrian king leaves the siege of Jerusalem, and is ultimately killed back in Assyria. The Book of Samuel was written by Samuel, with the two prophets who followed him, Natan and Gad, completing the work. According to the Talmud in Bava Batra 15a, the Book of Kings was written by Yirmiyahu. Because Yirmiyahu lived long after the events described, he must have relied on earlier sources when compiling the book. The biblical accounts in Yishayahu and II Kings overlap in their description of the Assyrian siege, raising the possibility that Yirmiyahu used an earlier version of the story preserved in the book of Yishayahu. Perhaps Chizkiyahu himself preserved this account to emphasize the parallel between his salvation and the salvation of his ancestor David. Just as God protected David from Shaul through the sudden arrival of the Philistines, God protected Chizkiyahu from the Assyrians through the sudden arrival of another invading army.